Twister of Fate
by Knappster
Summary: Aubrey thought that the idea of her being destined to be with someone was ridiculous. Especially if she already knew that person. She couldn't think of anyone she'd met recently that could be a candidate. She wasn't incomplete, she didn't need anyone to complete her.


Aubrey followed Chloe down the dark hallway of the building. The ceiling lights flickered constantly, giving the building an eerie, horror movie feel, and it smelled like soup and recently lit matches. Aubrey wondered why she'd agreed to this for the millionth time. She knew Chloe would've just come on her own if she hadn't accompanied her, and now that she was here to see the place, she was at least glad Chloe wasn't alone. Not that she would be of much use if anything happened.

Chloe stopped in front of a door, identical to the others they had passed except for a carved eye of horus on the wood on top of the peephole. Chloe gave her a nervous smile and knocked firmly, the door opening a few seconds later and revealing a tall middle aged woman in jeans and an old Motley Crue tour t-shirt.

"You're Chloe?"

Chloe nodded. "This is Aubrey."

The woman led them into the apartment. It looked like a normal, small sized apartment. There was a small living room with an old, faded gray couch in front of a small TV, with a counter separating it from a kitchen with cabinets that looked like they hadn't been changed since the building was built.

She stopped by a door next to the TV and looked at them. "Who's going first?"

"Oh," Aubrey said, looking nervously at Chloe. She didn't want to be left alone here. "Can't we go together?"

The woman shrugged like she didn't care either way and opened the door, stepping inside the room and leaving them alone in the living room. Chloe was the first to move to follow her, Aubrey hurrying behind her. This room was darker than the one they'd left, the windows had been covered and there were candles scattered around. The walls were covered with shelfs full of knick-knacks and jars, the contents of which Aubrey didn't want to know. Their shadows moved in the flickering glow of the candles, growing and shrinking arrhythmically.

The woman was seated in front of a table in the middle of the room, a chair and a stool were positioned across from it and Chloe took a seat. Aubrey took the empty chair, folding her hands on her lap, and watched as the woman pushed a deck of cards towards them.

"I can do the reading on only one at a time. One of you needs to shuffle the cards."

Chloe nudged her and Aubrey grabbed the deck. She didn't know why she was going first if she was only there for moral support, she didn't even believe in this, but going first meant it was over sooner. She didn't know how long she was supposed to shuffle the cards for, but she figured they were sufficiently shuffled and slid them back across the table.

The woman started grabbing cards from the top of the deck and laying them out on the table face up. When she was done, she studied the cards silently for a while.

She leaned forward and looked at Aubrey. "You're holding on to something. Something that's not letting you move on." Aubrey arched an eyebrow. "Something that's going to destroy you if you don't let go."

She pushed two cards forward, one was showing a an upside down man and the other one had four coins on it. Aubrey had no idea what they meant but she nodded.

"But…" She paused, Aubrey figured it was merely for dramatic effect. "There's someone who can help you loosen up." Chloe smiled and straightened up, thinking it meant her. "You haven't known them for long, a few months at most, but they're the one. You just have to let them in."

Chloe nudged her excitedly and Aubrey rolled her eyes. "How am I supposed to let someone in if I don't know who they are?"

The woman took a few more cards from the deck and laid them out. "Fate will intervene soon. But you have to listen." She drew more cards. "If you do, this person will complete you and help you succeed."

"Sounds easy enough." Aubrey said dryly and turned to Chloe. "Your turn."

* * *

Aubrey would have forgotten all about it by the end of the week if Chloe hadn't been constantly reminding her of it.

"So, who do you think it is?" Chloe asked from where she was lying face down on her bed. "The mystery person you're supposed to let in."

Aubrey sighed exasperated, saving her progress on her paper before looking up from her computer. "I don't believe in fate and I don't need anyone to complete me."

"Sure, you don't." Chloe replied. "But let's say, for the sake of argument, that you already know this person. Who do you think it is?"

"I don't know, Chloe." She closed her laptop and stood up. "I'm going to the library, I need a book for this paper."

Aubrey thought that the idea of her being destined to be with someone was ridiculous. Especially if she already knew that person. She couldn't think of anyone she'd met recently that could be a candidate. She wasn't incomplete, she didn't need anyone to complete her.

Aubrey scoffed and adjusted her backpack, walking into the library and walking to her usual table. She frowned when she got there; some guy had pushed together all the chairs on one side and was sleeping on them. The top of the table was covered in books and food.

Aubrey sighed, tempted to kick one of the chairs out from under the guy, but deciding to look for another place to work instead. She found a table, empty except for a pink bag on one of the chairs. She placed her own bag on the chair farthest from the one occupied, and took out the card where she'd written the location of the books she needed.

She walked to the History section and went down the stacks, running her finger along the edge of the shelf as she looked for her book. She stopped when she got close, reading the tags on the spines until spotting the one she needed on the highest shelf.

She looked down the aisle she was in but she couldn't see any step stools around. Figuring she could probably reach it if she stretched, she stood on her toes and reached up. Her fingers grazed the spine a few times but it was too far. She tried stretching higher, managing to nudge the book out far enough for her to grab it between her index and middle fingers and pull it out.

She lost her balance just as the book was tipping over the edge of the shelf, stumbling backwards when a pair of arms grabbed her waist and stopped her from falling.

"Whoa, careful there." Aubrey let herself be pushed upright before she turned around. "Are you okay?"

"Stacie." Aubrey smiled. "Yes, I'm alright. Thank you."

"Lucky I was around." Stacie winked at her and bent over to pick up the book from the floor. "A Treatise of Human Nature. David Hume." She nodded. "Doing some light reading?"

Aubrey frowned and took the book from Stacie's hand. "No, that's not…" It wasn't the book she was looking for but it had the tag for the book she wanted. "It must be mislabeled. It's not even in the right section."

Stacie looked at the tag, reaching over Aubrey and easily grabbing the book next to it. She looked at the spine before handing it to Aubrey. "Is this what you want?"

"Yes!" Aubrey took the book smiling widely. "I should keep you around in case I need to reach high places."

She flicked Stacie's chin and started walking away. Stacie grabbed the books she'd left on the shelf when she caught Aubrey and hurried after her. "I wouldn't mind that."

Aubrey looked over her shoulder and smiled at her, walking around to the next aisle to find the other book she needed. "What are you doing here so late?"

"I have to finish a paper on the Hundred Years' War and I needed more sources. Also, my professor frowns on Wikipedia and the internet in general."

Aubrey leaned down to look for her book. "You're taking History with Mr. Moira? Greek guy, kinda weird?"

"Yes! You had him?"

"Yeah." She frowned. "But I thought he only taught more advanced History courses. I didn't have him until my sophomore year."

Stacie's cheeks colored slightly and she looked down. "I took some credits over the summer so I could finish my general requirements early and take more science classes."

"That's…" Aubrey's brow furrowed. She really had misjudged Stacie. "That's crazy. In a good way."

Aubrey straightened up and hugged her books to her chest. "Well, I won't take any more of your time. Thanks for saving me!"

"Yeah, no problem."

Aubrey walked back to the table. The owner of the pink bag wasn't back yet, but Aubrey didn't give it much thought as she took out her computer. She put the Hume book on the side, so she could take it to one of the librarians and let them know it was mislabeled, and opened up the other books.

She was ready to start working again when pink bag returned, dropping a stack of books across from her. "You're at my table, I'm not following you."

Aubrey looked up and smiled at Stacie. "My table was taken over by a neanderthal."

"I'm sorry. I guess I can share just for tonight." Stacie stuck her tongue out at Aubrey and sat down.

"How gracious of you."

Aubrey chuckled when she realized she could barely see the top of Stacie's head behind the stack of books she'd brought over.

"Do you really need that many books?" Aubrey asked.

Stacie peeked out around them. "It was a really long war, Aubrey. It lasted a hundred years, I need lots of books."

"Actually, it lasted a hundred and sixteen years."

Stacie leaned to the side to look at Aubrey again. "Then why is it called the Hundred Years' War?"

"They rounded down?" Aubrey shrugged. "The Hundred and Sixteen Years' War doesn't have the same ring to it."

"I guess not." Stacie smiled and disappeared behind the books again.

After a while of working in silence, Aubrey started to get hungry. She'd left her room so quickly she'd forgotten to grab a snack and she hated the stuff in the vending machine in the library. She was considering going back home when, as if she had read her mind, Stacie took out a bag of trail mix, leaving it close enough for Aubrey to reach. Aubrey smiled at her and grabbed some.

They continued working in silence for a while, occasionally trading smiles across the table. It felt comfortable and Aubrey was reluctant to call it a night even though it was getting pretty late.

Stacie made up her mind for her when she closed her laptop.

"You're done?"

"Yeah, I just need to polish it off a bit." She replied. "Are you staying?"

Aubrey looked at the time and shook her head. "I can finish this later."

"Wanna walk back together?"

Aubrey smiled at Stacie's hopeful look. "Sure, just let me check these out."

"I'll meet you out front?"

Aubrey nodded and Stacie started taking her stack of books to one of the return trolleys. Aubrey watched her as she packed her things. Despite the fact that most of the time they'd spent together had been in silence, there was something about being around Stacie that made Aubrey feel good.

She put the books in her bag after checking them out and walked outside to meet Stacie.

"Which building are you in?" Stacie asked when she was close enough.

"Simmons." Aubrey said. "You're in Howard, right?"

Stacie arched an eyebrow at her. "How do you know that?"

"Initiation? We picked you up there."

"Oh, yeah." Stacie nodded thoughtfully. "It feels like more time has passed since then than it really has. Like I've known you for longer."

"It does."

Aubrey stopped when they got to the quad. Stacie's dorm was on the other side and she had to walk the other way. "It was nice hanging out with you, maybe we can do it again sometime."

"For sure." Stacie smiled. "Maybe next time we can go somewhere we can actually talk."

The side of Aubrey's mouth quirked up. "Sounds like a plan."

"See you in rehearsal." Stacie waved and started walking away.

"Good night." Aubrey watched her walk away for a few more seconds before turning away. She felt like she was missing something but she couldn't quite put her finger on it.

* * *

Aubrey frowned at the books on her bed. She had decided to forgo her morning run since she'd stayed out late, leaving her just enough time to get ready before she had to run to class. She'd thrown the books she'd checked out from the library on her bed, not noticing that she'd taken the David Hume book too.

She grabbed it, opening it when she saw something sticking out between the pages and taking it out.

"What's that?" Chloe asked as she walked into the room.

Aubrey's frown deepened. "It's a coupon for a free dinner for two at a place called Capita a Fagiolo."

"Oh!" She handed the coupon to Chloe who turned it over and pouted. "It expires today. I can't go."

"Why not?" Aubrey took the coupon back from her. The place sounded Italian, which she loved, and free food was always good. She just needed someone to go with.

"I have a group meeting for a project and we don't have much time before the deadline." Chloe looked down sadly and shrugged. "I'm sure one of the girls will go with you. You can ask them after rehearsal."

As soon as Chloe suggested inviting a Bella, Aubrey's mind immediately jumped to Stacie. "Yeah, I know just who to ask."

She couldn't wait, approaching Stacie just as she walked through the door. "Hey."

"Hey!" Stacie grinned when she saw her, making Aubrey smile back immediately.

Aubrey bit her lip. "So, I found this coupon for a free dinner for two and it expires today, so I was wondering if you wanted to come with me."

"Yeah, sounds great. I love free food."

"Great!" Aubrey tried to keep herself from sounding too excited. "We can meet at seven by the quad? It's not far."

Stacie nodded. "Perfect."

Aubrey went back to her usual spot by the piano, pretending that she was looking over her notes but actually looking at Stacie from the corner of her eye. Something felt different about Stacie. It wasn't that Stacie had changed, and it wasn't even the fact that her perception of Stacie had changed. But whatever she was feeling was too vague to really identify, almost like the feeling of a feeling.

The rest of the girls arrived, interrupting her attempt to figure out what she was feeling, and she started rehearsal. Her obsession with perfecting their set taking over and obscuring every other feeling until rehearsal ended and the girls started filing out.

"I'll see you later." Stacie said, waving at Aubrey and walking out with Jessica and Denise.

"You're taking Stacie?"

"Yeah, she likes food." Chloe arched an eyebrow at Aubrey's weird response. "I ran into her at the library yesterday, she's nice."

"She's not as nice as me." Chloe pouted and wrapped an arm around her shoulder. "She doesn't look like she eats much, maybe you can bring me her leftovers."

Aubrey laughed. "I'll see what I can do."

* * *

Aubrey was glad Chloe wasn't there when she was getting ready for her dinner with Stacie. She had changed at least five times already and she still didn't feel close to deciding what to wear. She didn't want to look like she was trying too hard but she still wanted to look good.

She didn't know why she was so nervous. Well, she knew. Stacie was hot and funny and smart. But this wasn't a date, so there was no reason for her to be nervous about it. They were just hanging out.

Aubrey looked in the mirror and nodded. She decided on a black, knee length dress with a wide skirt and a red belt. She grabbed a red sweater from her closet and a pair of sensible black heels. She grabbed the coupon and her wallet and put them both in a small back purse she borrowed from Chloe, and walked out to meet Stacie.

With all her wardrobe changes, she made it there just in time, and Stacie was already waiting for her at the spot where they had parted the previous night.

She took the time before she got to her to give Stacie a once-over. She was wearing a pair of skintight jeans and a dark blue, long sleeved shirt that not only clinged to all the right places, but also had a deep v-neck that afforded Aubrey a pretty decent view of Stacie's chest.

They were just hanging out.

"Hi!" Stacie joined Aubrey when she was close enough.

"Hey!" Aubrey replied, proud of the fact that her voice hadn't sounded as shaky as she felt. "Shall we?"

"Lead the way."

Aubrey had googled the place. Apparently it was a decent Italian restaurant, a little too pricy for the college crowd, but still cheap enough to not be considered fancy. It was merely a ten minute walk away from campus.

The street they were walking by was one of the nicer streets in the area. Small shops and restaurants ran along one side and a large park occupied the other. They walked on the side with the shops, stopping at the windows and pointing out things to each other. About halfway there, they walked by a flower shop that had a sign that read: Get a free daisy if your name is Stacie!

Stacie pulled Aubrey into the shop and went to the counter to get her free flower. Aubrey stayed by the door looking at all the different arrangements.

One of the florists was at the front and Aubrey walked to him. "How often do you change the name on the sign?"

"Every day." He said. "I have a list I got off the internet. I try to make them rhyme with the flower but it doesn't often work as well as today."

"Bree." Stacie called her from the door and Aubrey excused herself.

Stacie smiled and handed her the daisy as soon as they were outside. "Thanks for inviting me."

"Thank you." Aubrey blushed, her fingers brushing Stacie's as she took the flower.

Stacie took her hand, pulling her to the next shop window and pointing at something. The feeling Aubrey had felt in rehearsal intensified, but she chalked it up to the fact that there was a cute girl holding her hand and giving her flowers, and not necessarily that the girl was Stacie so she ignored it.

The walk to the restaurant took twice as long as it should have, but Aubrey wasn't very eager to get there and let go of Stacie's hand, and Stacie seemed to be enjoying herself too.

Aubrey walked to the host, who gave her a too wide smile when she showed him the coupon and led her and Stacie to a booth. The place was nicer than Aubrey had expected but still cozy. The lights were slightly dimmed, with a single candle on the table. That, added to the fact that the booth cut them off from most of the room, gave it a heavy romantic atmosphere that Aubrey wasn't sure she was comfortable with.

The host gave them both a list of preset, three course menus they could pick from, leaving after writing down their choices.

Stacie smiled at Aubrey. "This is nice."

"Yeah." Aubrey fiddled with her napkin. "It's nicer than I expected from a place with coupons."

"Yeah, it's a bit weird." Stacie chuckled. "Where did you get it from?"

"Inside the mislabeled book from the library."

"Really?" Stacie's eyebrows rose surprised.

"Yeah, I checked it out with the other books by accident. I found it this morning."

Stacie's brow furrowed. "That's very weird." She shrugged. "But very lucky for me."

"Yeah, and also that Chloe couldn't make it."

Stacie gasped. "I was your second choice?"

"No." Aubrey pursed her lips. "Well, sort of. Chloe was there when I found it, so she would've come with me, but she said she couldn't come before I even asked her. So technically you're the first person I asked."

Stacie narrowed her eyes. "I feel so betrayed."

Aubrey chuckled and rolled her eyes. "There's no one I'd rather be with right now."

Stacie grinned widely. "Yeah?" Aubrey nodded a bit embarrassed and Stacie covered her hand with her own. "I'm really glad you asked me."

The waitress arrived with their drinks and their first course, soup for Stacie and a salad for Aubrey, and Stacie pulled her hand back to start eating.

The waitress brought a couple of champagne glasses with the dessert course. Everything up to that point had been perfect; the food was better than what they were used to eating around school, and the conversation flowed easily between them. Aubrey found it hard to feel completely at ease with people, but Stacie seemed to be the exception.

Aubrey arched an eyebrow when the champagne arrived but said nothing, fearing they would ask Stacie for her ID.

Once the waitress left, Stacie grabbed the stem of her glass and lifted it, tilting it towards Aubrey. "To more nights like this."

Aubrey smiled and clinked her glass with Stacie's, taking a small sip of the champagne before putting it down. She felt the bubbles travel down her throat and she suddenly felt nervous again.

Stacie was putting her glass down, and Aubrey noticed she was looking at it with a frown. Stacie pursed her lips and lifted the glass, smirking at Aubrey and holding it out for her to see. "Is there something you want to ask, Bree?"

"What?" Aubrey looked closer and noticed a diamond ring at the bottom of Stacie's glass. "No! No, no, no, that's not- that's not mine. I don't- no."

Stacie started laughing. "So you're not proposing?"

"Of course not! I barely know you, we haven't even-" Aubrey covered her face with her hands. "I'm not crazy."

"It's a really nice ring." Stacie kept laughing. "I might say yes just for that."

Aubrey glared at her. "I'm not asking!"

Stacie tried to stop laughing and moved to Aubrey's side of the booth, wrapping her arm around Aubrey's shoulder. "I'm messing with you, I know you wouldn't do that."

"You suck."

"I'm sorry." Stacie chuckled and pulled her dessert closer. "Do you want to try my mascarpone?"

Aubrey nodded and Stacie let her go, scooting to a more respectable distance but staying on her side of the table. Aubrey grabbed a piece with her spoon, painfully aware of Stacie's gaze on her as she brought the spoon to her lips.

"It's good."

Stacie nodded slowly and licked her lips. "Looks good."

Stacie shook her head and looked away, calling the waitress and grabbing the champagne glass. "I think this is someone else's."

The waitress' eyes widened. "Oh shit."

"Yeah." Stacie smirked.

"I got the table wrong?" The waitress took out a piece of paper. "Fucking eights that look like sixes... I'm going to kill him." She muttered under her breath and then seemed to remember Aubrey and Stacie, smiling apologetically at them. "Thank you."

She took the glass with her and Stacie pouted. "So it really wasn't for me?"

Aubrey rolled her eyes and elbowed her, taking another bite of her dessert. "Shut up."

* * *

Stacie dragged Aubrey across the street and into the park. It wasn't that late, and there were still people around. The park looked pretty. They had already started decorating for Christmas, even though it was still early November, white fairy lights hanging from the trees.

"Today was weird, don't you think?" Stacie said furrowing her eyebrows. "I mean, it was great, but it was weird."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, first you find a coupon inside a book you took by accident, a coupon that just happened to expire today. Then, we're walking down a street I never go to and my name happens to be the free flower name of the day. We accidentally get someone's engagement ring." Stacie shrugged. "It just seems unusual to me."

Aubrey frowned. When she heard it all together like that it did seem extremely weird. Almost like it wasn't just coincidence, like it was… Aubrey shook her head. "Nope."

"You don't think it's weird?"

"No, I do." Aubrey hesitated and then chuckled. This was all too ridiculous, she didn't believe in fate. Stacie wasn't that person, she couldn't be.

They were walking by a fountain, and it suddenly sent jets of water flying in front of them, making them stop.

"Whoa." Stacie was still looking at the jets of water jumping around while Aubrey looked around the park, noticing all the other fountains were off.

"Fine!" She yelled. "I get it, okay?"

"Who are you talking to?" Stacie looked at her quirking an eyebrow.

Aubrey didn't respond. Instead, she took a step towards Stacie and grabbed her neck, pulling her down and kissing her. Stacie got over her surprise quickly, kissing her back and pulling her closer by the hips. Aubrey deepened the kiss, tasting the sweetness of Stacie's dessert mixed with something else. She felt Stacie's tongue gliding across her lips and into her mouth, and she felt her stomach do a somersault.

She broke the kiss with a gasp, but she stayed close to Stacie, running a hand down her arm. "That was…"

"Weird?" Stacie pecked her lips. "But in a good way."

Aubrey grinned. "In the best way."


End file.
